US8340540B2 - Dual registration and process control toned patches - Google Patents

Dual registration and process control toned patches Download PDF

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Publication number
US8340540B2
US8340540B2 US12/862,999 US86299910A US8340540B2 US 8340540 B2 US8340540 B2 US 8340540B2 US 86299910 A US86299910 A US 86299910A US 8340540 B2 US8340540 B2 US 8340540B2
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patch
color
registration
sensor
toner
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US20120051767A1 (en
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Eric M Gross
Edward W Smith, Jr.
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Xerox Corp
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Xerox Corp
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Priority to JP2011177171A priority patent/JP5856406B2/ja
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Assigned to CITIBANK, N.A., AS AGENT reassignment CITIBANK, N.A., AS AGENT SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
Assigned to XEROX CORPORATION reassignment XEROX CORPORATION RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS AT R/F 062740/0214 Assignors: CITIBANK, N.A., AS AGENT
Assigned to CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
Assigned to JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
Assigned to CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT SECURITY INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
Assigned to XEROX CORPORATION reassignment XEROX CORPORATION TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS RECORDED AT RF 064760/0389 Assignors: CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Assigned to U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT FIRST LIEN NOTES PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
Assigned to U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT reassignment U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT SECOND LIEN NOTES PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Assignors: XEROX CORPORATION
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G15/00—Apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern
    • G03G15/50—Machine control of apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern, e.g. regulating differents parts of the machine, multimode copiers, microprocessor control
    • G03G15/5033—Machine control of apparatus for electrographic processes using a charge pattern, e.g. regulating differents parts of the machine, multimode copiers, microprocessor control by measuring the photoconductor characteristics, e.g. temperature, or the characteristics of an image on the photoconductor
    • G03G15/5041—Detecting a toner image, e.g. density, toner coverage, using a test patch
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G2215/00—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes
    • G03G2215/01—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes for producing multicoloured copies
    • G03G2215/0103—Plural electrographic recording members
    • G03G2215/0119—Linear arrangement adjacent plural transfer points
    • G03G2215/0122—Linear arrangement adjacent plural transfer points primary transfer to an intermediate transfer belt
    • G03G2215/0135—Linear arrangement adjacent plural transfer points primary transfer to an intermediate transfer belt the linear arrangement being vertical
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03G—ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY
    • G03G2215/00—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes
    • G03G2215/01—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes for producing multicoloured copies
    • G03G2215/0151—Apparatus for electrophotographic processes for producing multicoloured copies characterised by the technical problem
    • G03G2215/0158—Colour registration
    • G03G2215/0161—Generation of registration marks

Definitions

  • This invention relates in general to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus employing a method and apparatus for saving on toner cost and maximizing productivity.
  • the xerographic controls uses a set of toned patches that are, relative to registration patches, large in size. This is so since process controls is concerned with measuring the average density of a patch where registration is concerned with measuring the location of the patch edge only. Furthermore, in many products the same optical sensor is used to sense both controls and registration patches. The signal processing is done by different systems, typically in hardware for the high speed requirement of registration and in software for the purpose of color control. Sampling rates may be different, though not necessarily different. Finally, the number of patches required for registration is usually larger than that required for process controls.
  • the toner usage is a function of the number of sampling events, number of patches and the average developed mass per unit area. Decreasing anyone of these factors will result in a toner savings.
  • the total toner usage per unit time is directly related to toner consumption cost. Also, there is cost due to lost productivity since dead cycling is often required to render and measure registration and process controls patches.
  • productivity enhancements can be captured if registration and process controls are sampled during the same dead cycle. Though they may require different sampling intervals, at least it may be possible to occasionally run both sets of patches during the same dead cycle.
  • the overall systems optimization of lost productivity and toner usage can be enabled by having the process control patches be the same small geometric shape as the registration patches.
  • the disclosed reprographic system incorporates the disclosed improved method for reducing toner costs and improving productivity for running registration and other process control features. It is well-known and preferable to program and execute imaging, printing, paper handling, and other control functions and logic with software instructions for conventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerous prior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may, of course, vary depending on the particular functions, software type, and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will be available to, or readily programmable without undue experimentation from, functional descriptions, such as, those provided herein, and/or prior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together with general knowledge in the software of computer arts. Alternatively, any disclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fully in hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.
  • sheet herein refers to any flimsy physical sheet or paper, plastic, or other useable physical substrate for printing images thereon, whether precut or initially web fed.
  • a compiled collated set of printed output sheets may be alternatively referred to as a document, booklet, or the like. It is also known to use interposes or inserters to add covers or other inserts to the compiled sets.
  • FIG. 1 is a partial, frontal view of an exemplary modular xerographic printer that includes the xerographic process controls scheduling approach of the present disclosure
  • FIG. 2 is plan view of two conventional patches used to measure process direction registration and process direction color control
  • FIG. 3 is a plan view of a dual process direction registration patch and process control patch.
  • printer 10 in FIG. 1 as in other xerographic machines, and as is well known, an electrographic printing system is shown including the improved method and apparatus where color consistency and color registration is maintained in the printer by making multiple uses of patches for both color registration and color processing.
  • the term “printing system” as used here encompasses a printer apparatus, including any associated peripheral or modular devices, where the term “printer” as used herein encompasses any apparatus, such as a digital copier, bookmaking machine, facsimile machine, multifunction machine, etc., which performs a print outputting function for any purpose.
  • Marking module 12 includes a charge retentive substrate which could be a photoreceptor belt 14 that advances in the direction of arrow 16 through the various processing stations around the path of belt 14 .
  • Charger 18 charges an area of belt 14 to a relatively high, substantially uniform potential.
  • the charged area of belt 14 passes laser 20 to expose selected areas of belt 14 to a pattern of light, to discharge selected areas to produce an electrostatic latent image.
  • the illuminated area of the belt passes developer unit M, which deposits magenta toner on charged areas of the belt.
  • charger 22 charges the area of belt 14 to a relatively high, substantially uniform potential.
  • the charged area of belt 14 passes laser 24 to expose selected areas of belt 14 to a pattern of light, to discharge selected areas to produce an electrostatic latent image.
  • the illuminated area of the belt passes developer unit Y, which deposits yellow toner on charged areas of the belt.
  • charger 26 charges the area of belt 14 to a relatively high, substantially uniform potential.
  • the charged area of belt 14 passes laser 28 to expose selected areas of belt 14 to a pattern of light, to discharge selected areas to produce an electrostatic latent image.
  • the illuminated area of the belt passes developer unit C, which deposits cyan toner on charged areas of the belt.
  • charger 30 charges the area of belt 14 to a relatively high, substantially uniform potential.
  • the charged area of belt 14 passes laser 32 to expose selected areas of belt 14 to a pattern of light, to discharge selected areas to produce an electrostatic latent image.
  • the illuminated area of the belt passes developer unit K, which deposits black toner on charged areas of the belt.
  • Sheet feeder module 100 includes high capacity feeders 102 and 104 that feed sheets from sheet stacks 106 and 108 positioned on media supply trays 107 and 109 and directs them along sheet path 120 to imaging or marking module 112 . Additional high capacity media trays could be added to feed sheets along sheet path 120 , if desired.
  • a corotron 34 charges a sheet to tack the sheet to belt 14 and to move the toner from belt 14 to the sheet.
  • detack corotron 36 charges the sheet to an opposite polarity to detack the sheet from belt 14 .
  • Prefuser transport 38 moves the sheet to fuser E, which permanently affixes the toner to the sheet with heat and pressure. The sheet then advances to stacker module F, or to duplex loop D.
  • Cleaner 40 removes toner that may remain on the image area of belt 14 .
  • duplex loop D feeds sheets back for transfer of a toner powder image to the opposed sides of the sheets.
  • Duplex inverter 90 in duplex loop D, inverts the sheet such that what was the top face of the sheet, on the previous pass through transfer, will be the bottom face on the sheet, on the next pass through transfer.
  • Duplex inverter 90 inverts each sheet such that what was the leading edge of the sheet, on the previous pass through transfer, will be the trailing on the sheet, on the next pass through transfer.
  • a simple method and apparatus for maintaining color registration and color consistency in printer 10 includes an algorithm and a pre-transfer reflective sensor for recording diffuse and/or specular reflected light from a patch developed on drum or belt photoreceptor substrate 14 .
  • the pre-transfer sensor 33 is a conventional optical sensor and is used to send signals back to controller 45 .
  • a long held design rule of thumb has been to make process control patches somewhat larger than the field of view of sensor 33 and allow enough time for the sensor response to stabilize (transient dies away), after which the sensor read is captured.
  • the patch sizes are generally about 17 mm in length in the process direction.
  • Optical sensor 33 has a field of view of about 3 mm.
  • a separate process direction registration patch 60 and color process control patch 70 are shown positioned for sensing a process direction width of 1 mm in the direction of arrow 65 .
  • the process direction registration patch 60 includes a diagonal component 66 for inboard-outboard registration measurement.
  • Process controls patch 70 normally has a process direction width of 17 mm.
  • Dual process control patch 80 includes a diagonal component 81 for inboard-outboard registration measurement.
  • Patch 80 is used as both a process direction registration patch and a process control patch and includes a process direction width of 1 mm.
  • the algorithm requires that the process control patches are calibrated to the registration patches and thereby overcome the process control design rule that has long dictated that process control patches must be relatively large.
  • the process control to registration patch calibration mode should be run if the sensor is replaced, if belts are replaced, or possibly if the incident light intensity of the sensor is changed.
  • This mode consists of passing a full size process control patch at the process control patch digital area coverage (DAC) value under the optical sensor 33 and recording the result.
  • the narrow width registration patch is passed under the sensor and the sensor response is sampled quickly ( ⁇ 1 ms rate) and the data collected.
  • This process is repeated at each DAC value that is required by process control. This would mostly be a solid and medium density patch.
  • Either the peak value or the integrated (i.e. area under the curve) value can then be used to establish process controls set point. In this way, a direct correlation is established between the sensor response to the full size process control patches and the sensor response to the reduced size (reduced to registration size) patches. With this calibration curve, the system can proceed to render only the registration size patches.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Color Electrophotography (AREA)
  • Control Or Security For Electrophotography (AREA)
US12/862,999 2010-08-25 2010-08-25 Dual registration and process control toned patches Active 2031-04-14 US8340540B2 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/862,999 US8340540B2 (en) 2010-08-25 2010-08-25 Dual registration and process control toned patches
JP2011177171A JP5856406B2 (ja) 2010-08-25 2011-08-12 電子写真式プリンタにおいてカラーレジストレーションおよびカラー濃度を制御する方法

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US12/862,999 US8340540B2 (en) 2010-08-25 2010-08-25 Dual registration and process control toned patches

Publications (2)

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US20120051767A1 US20120051767A1 (en) 2012-03-01
US8340540B2 true US8340540B2 (en) 2012-12-25

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JP (1) JP5856406B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20130064564A1 (en) * 2011-09-09 2013-03-14 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Registration mark and image forming apparatus

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8777399B2 (en) 2012-09-26 2014-07-15 Xerox Corporation System and method for first and second side process registration in a single print zone duplex web printer
KR102144316B1 (ko) * 2013-07-18 2020-08-13 휴렛-팩커드 디벨롭먼트 컴퍼니, 엘.피. 화상형성장치 및 컬러 레지스트레이션 보정 방법
DE102018216442A1 (de) * 2018-09-26 2020-03-26 Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Ag Registermessung ohne Registermarken

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6847791B2 (en) * 2002-08-30 2005-01-25 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Image formation controlling method and image forming apparatus
US7777896B2 (en) * 2006-01-30 2010-08-17 Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc. Signal processing apparatus and image forming apparatus

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2006091472A (ja) * 2004-09-24 2006-04-06 Fuji Xerox Co Ltd カラー画像形成装置

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6847791B2 (en) * 2002-08-30 2005-01-25 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Image formation controlling method and image forming apparatus
US7777896B2 (en) * 2006-01-30 2010-08-17 Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc. Signal processing apparatus and image forming apparatus

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20130064564A1 (en) * 2011-09-09 2013-03-14 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Registration mark and image forming apparatus
US8811845B2 (en) * 2011-09-09 2014-08-19 Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Registration mark and image forming apparatus

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JP2012048231A (ja) 2012-03-08
JP5856406B2 (ja) 2016-02-09
US20120051767A1 (en) 2012-03-01

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